12 OCTOBRE 2017 NEWS: Karongi - Kutaisi - Liangshan Yi - Cape Girardeau - Kozhikode - Bojná - Amiens -
INSTITUT SUPERIEUR D'ANTHROPOLOGIE
INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY
ONLINE COURSES / COURS A DISTANCE
FALL TERM : OCTOBER 2017
REGISTER NOW
RWANDA – 
Karongi - A team of archaeologists are excavating a place believed to have been palace for former Rwandan kings in Karongi District in search of artifact that can help tell the country's history. The place of interest is located in Rubengera Sector in Western Province. The archaeologists have already come across some pieces of old objects from the former residence of King Kigeri IV Rwabugiri, who reigned from 1853 to 1895. The objects are expected to reveal the king's lifestyle and rituals that used to take place at the royal palace. Rwabugiri had many residences around the country, including on the shores of Lake Kivu that specifically served him in preparation of military expeditions, across the lake. According to museum officials, Rubengera royal residence was built in 1874 after the king's military expedition in Butembo (DR Congo). The site stands out for two reasons. It is a place where king Rwabugiri regularly celebrated the Harvest Day (Umuganura). Most of the military expeditions the king conducted in Congo (Bunyabungo and Ijwi Island) and other related rituals during which the warriors recounted their feasts to the king, were organised at Rubengera, according to officials.
VIDEO = http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/read/221549/
http://allafrica.com/stories/201710110018.html
GEORGIE – 
Kutaisi - A Polish mission aimed at studying the remains of the ancient Black Sea Kingdom of Colchis. Experts from Poland will focus their work on Kutaisi, the largest city in western Georgia and capital of the old kingdom from the 6th-5th centuries BC. Archaeologists from the two countries have also been involved in works at the remains of the Gonio Fortress, another Colchis site in Georgia’s west.
http://agenda.ge/news/88600/eng
CHINE - Liangshan Yi - More than 6,000 items, including a bronze mace and three sets of acupuncture needles, have been found in sites in southwest China's Sichuan Province. These items from 22 sites in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture are from between late Neolithic period and the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). Archaeologists have excavated 646 tombs, 322 dwellings and several thousand pits. Chen Wei with Sichuan provincial cultural relics and archaeology research institute who led the excavation, believes that one of the most important items is a bronze mace. Three sets of stone needles could prove valuable in the study of acupuncture in ancient China. Archaeologists also found stoneware, pottery, accessories such as bronze bracelets and earrings, as well as turquoise and agate. "These items are significant in the study of formation and migration of ethnic groups in southwest China," Chen said. Excavation at the site is continuing.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-10/11/c_136672631.htm
USA – 
Cape Girardeau - The remains of two infants were unearthed earlier this week in a field just east of the Florsheim Shoe Co. in Cape Girardeau. The babies died and were buried more than 700 years ago during the "prehistoric" era of Cape Girardeau and are two of 10 human bodies discovered in the past five years by SEMO State University archaeology students. The site, according to Dr. Duncan Wilkie, instructor in the archaeology fieldwork class, is one of the most important "digs" in Southeast Missouri. "This site is the key to understanding the history of this Cape Girardeau area," he said as he and the 10 students in the class sifted through mounds of dirt hunting for traces of a vanished civilization. Wilkie explained that during the fall and spring semesters at the university, the artifacts found at the site are analyzed and catalogued in an attempt to piece together information about the people who lived here around 1200 and 1300 A.D. ach of the hundreds of artifacts, including pieces of jewelry, pottery and bones, is logged listing the exact location of the artifact, when it was discovered and the depth at which it was located. By analyzing the dirt and location of the artifacts, Wilkie said it has been determined that there were rows of "houses" in the small settlement of the Mississippian culture Indians, an agricultural people who cultivated maize and beans. So far, two homes have been verified and a third is being mapped out. "I would say there are probably about 20 houses here," Wilkie said, noting that this was a relatively small settlement. He said that an archaeological site near Poplar Bluff had 94 houses. The two houses discovered so far were between 15 and 20 feet wide separated by a 10-foot alley. "We think there are at least three rows of houses here," the instructor said as he pointed toward the ground.The remains of the two infants found on Monday and Tuesday of this week (two of seven infants discovered since the excavation began several years ago) were inside the boundaries of the homes. Wilkie explained that when infants died during the Mississippian culture era they were often buried in the corner of the homes.
http://www.semissourian.com/blogs/flynch/entry/69427
INDE – 
Kozhikode - An urn, believed to be dating back to the fifth century, has been discovered from Panthalayani Kollam of Kozhikode, which was an ancient port. The 94-cm, well-baked, globular urn with a pedunculated bottom was discovered last week from the site and has now been shifted to the Pazhassi Raja Archaeological Museum at East Hill in the city. The site has significance since some historians believed that Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama anchored his ships at Panthalayani port. “However, more studies are needed to ascertain the age of the urn,” K. Krishnaraj of the Department of Archaeology, told The Hindu on Tuesday. He said urns with pedunculated bottom were extensively excavated from Amrithamangalam in Tamil Nadu by archaeologist N.R. Banerjee in 1955. He said the “rim is featureless and the diameter mouth is 6 cm”. The urn has a cord impressed pattern fabric, which is also a rarity. Three girth grooves are found on the upper part of the urn. However, its neck was very short. Normally the capstones of megalithic burial urns are flat and circular. “But the capstone of this urn is a granite boulder with 15 cm in length and 12.5 cm width and weighs 3.64 kg. The urn itself contained nothing apart from gravely sand. And, the disturbed site has not yielded any grave goods or burial assemblages like carnelian beads, iron implements and bones,” said Mr. Krishnaraj.
SLOVAQUIE – 
Bojná - Archaeologists found an iron treasure while doing research in Bojná near Topoľčany. The Slavic inhabitants of the region hid it in a stone oven at the beginning of the 10th century. Iron was in that era a very precious metal; it was used for currency as the metal “hrivna”. “The surprising discovery consists of 36 hrivna, bridle bits from a horse harness, two keys from a Slavic settlement and other iron objects,” said head of research in Bojná, Karol Pieta, from the Archaeological Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, as quoted by the SITA newswire. The oven with the treasure was found on the west fortified area in front of the castle near the Great Moravian fortification Bojná I – Valy. The earthen-ware pot stood in its original place, in the oven, surviving more than 1,100 years unbroken.
https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20666921/archaeologists-discover-iron-treasure-hidden-in-oven.html
FRANCE – 
Amiens - De multiples charniers ont été dégagés des abords d'un bâtiment médiéval, détruit en 1940 lors de bombardements allemands, situés dans les jardins de l'ancien hôtel-Dieu, en bordure de rivière. Le tout disséminé sur les 1500 m2 du chantier. " Il s'agit de sépultures de crises. Elles ont été creusées en urgence lors d'un important épisode épidémique qui a entrainé une forte mortalité. Sans doute une flambée de peste ", explique Elodie Jadelot, archéoanthropologue. " Nous savions que ce secteur abritait un cimetière utilisé entre le 13e et le 17e siècle, mais notre surprise a été de trouver toutes ces fosses en périphérie ", poursuit Richard Jonvelle, responsable de l'opération. " Avec le cimetière et les fosses, nous en sommes déjà à plus d'une centaine d'individus, et il est certain que nous allons en retrouver beaucoup d'autres ", pronostique Yves Lebechennec. Entassés sur plusieurs niveaux, les corps étaient inhumés en pleine terre dans des linceuls fermés par des épingles, comme l'indique la grande quantité d'agrafes recueillies. Actif dès 1230, l'hôtel-Dieu était un " hôpital " pour indigents tenu par des religieux ayant fonctionné jusqu'au XVIIe siècle. Comment s'est-il soudain retrouvé à accueillir des populations si diverses ? Une information provenant des archives historiques de la ville d'Amiens en donne une petite idée. Il est noté qu'en 1632, " la municipalité a demandé à l'hôtel-Dieu de prendre en charge tous les pestiférés" manifestement dans le but de créer un cordon sanitaire et de prendre des mesures d'isolement, précise Elodie Jadelot. " C'est ainsi que dans ces fosses, nous retrouvons toutes les tranches d'âge et catégories sociales, comme c'est souvent le cas avec la peste ", poursuit l'anthropologue.En 1633, la peste ravageait la ville, les habitants mouraient en masse, la misère et la famine s’ajoutaient à la maladie », précise le document qui atteste que plus de 300 malades se trouvaient dans l’hôtel-Dieu et que chaque nuit six ou sept familles supplémentaires étaient touchées. Il est par ailleurs précisé que « trois années de peste avaient ruiné la Picardie ». En plus de ces fosses, les restes d’un édifice de 40 m de long ont commencé à surgir du sol. Débutés en août 2017, ces travaux qui avaient pour but d’étudier le rapport de la ville avec son fleuve devraient s’achever à la fin de l’année.